The present invention relates to a method, and also to a device and system for use with such method, for providing anti-theft protection for electrical devices installed on various types of bodies. The invention is particularly useful for providing anti-theft protection for vehicle refueling controllers installed on vehicles, and is therefore described below particularly with respect to this application, but it will be appreciated that the invention could be used in many other applications, for example, for providing anti-theft protection of radios, tape recorders, or other electrical devices from vehicles, homes, or other locations where such electrical devices are installed.
Apparatus for automatically refueling vehicles is gaining widespread use because of their convenience and cost savings, both in the refueling of the vehicles, and also in the monitoring of fuel expenses and other information regarding the respective vehicles. Such automatic refueling apparatus generally includes a control system at the refueling station effective, upon the insertion of a nozzle into the fuel tank opening of a vehicle, to control the respective pump at the fuel station to dispense fuel into the fuel tank opening of the vehicle, and to record the amount of fuel dispensed as well as the identification of the respective vehicle and respective nozzle.
Examples of systems of this type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,367,827; 5,156,198; 5,671,786; and 6,024,142.
A drawback in the conventional systems is that, if the controller is stolen, it can be used to obtain fuel in a similar that a stolen credit card can be used for obtaining credit. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to provide anti-theft protection of the controller in such automatic refueling systems.
The need to provide anti-theft protection of other electrical devices, such as vehicle radios, tape recorders, and the like, is also well recognized, and various solutions have been proposed, as described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,246,573; 4,494,114; 4,720,700; 4,987,406; 5,406,261; and 5,936,526. However, apparently none of these previously proposed devices has gained widespread use.